The Dubai Awqaf and Minors’ Affairs Foundation organizes an international conference regarding the investment of awqaf funds, titled “the Dubai International Conference for Waqf Investments”, with a wide participation of world and Arab waqf foundations, in the presence of experts in social development and Islamic economy in the world, between the 4th and the 6th this upcoming February.

The Secretary General of the Dubai Awqaf, Architect Abdul Rahman Al-Shared declared to “Al-Ittihad”: “Holding this conference is a part of the foundation’s strategic plan aiming at establishing strategic partnerships and alliances, and finding new practices and innovations for the world waqf foundations in the field of awqaf investments, which enhances the financial thinking and investments with other similar waqf foundations across the world.

Al-Shared explained that the said project reflects the foundation’s determination to reach right waqf investments by relative safety of assets, satisfactory and sustainable growth of benefits, and shari’ methods that fits the nature of awqaf. He said that the conference would be focusing on four axis: the first one is related to the features of the modern waqf investment, by holding discussions about real estate investment and the way of its activation, in addition to the investment of shares, deeds and money, as well as the deeds of the waqf funds.

The second one would be focusing on the balance between the development of assets and the waqf benefits, through the best investment means for the awqaf funds and the experiences of the investment portfolios in the field of awqaf, as well as the ways of avoiding the investment risks in the awqaf funds, in addition to the accounting bases for the investment of awqaf funds.

As for the third one, it would be assigned to the increase in the waqf financing sources, by considering the governmental support offered to waqf foundations and the popular participation in supporting waqf foundations, in addition to the way of activating the financial dealings between Islamic banks and waqf foundations, as well as Islamic investment companies and foundations, and awqaf projects.

Regarding the fourth axe of the conference, it would be highlighting the establishment of the waqf foundation’s investment strategic plan, by exposing the past experiences of international foundations in the field of the investment of awqaf funds, and holding two “closed” workshops within the scope of the setting-up of the investment strategic plan.

The Dubai Awqaf Foundation’s Secretary General explained: “Whereas the present investment of awqaf funds aims at developing the waqf funds, whether they are assets or returns, via recent investment tools and means, in accordance with the nature of waqf and the Islamic Shari’ provisions, the main objective of the conference is to reach an investment strategic plan, whose elements constitute a standard for the success of any contemporary waqf foundation. He asserted that this requires finding an investment strategic plan characterized by the participation and approval of the waqf leaders who work in the field of investment and waqf development.

He confirmed that the participants in this conference would try to reach practical shari’ methods for the awqaf investment, and to agree on useful investment models for the investment of awqaf, in coordination with Islamic financial companies and banks, and to enlarge the idea of monetary awqaf investment and waqf shares, and their use by public, along with the enlargement of the investment fields aiming at reducing the risks to which the waqf investment is exposed, and to set-up models (in computer forms) within rules that comply with the awqaf technical formalities, and help make the right choice in terms of investment.

Al-Shared added: “The Dubai Awqaf Foundation” aims, through this conference, at benefiting from the experiences and practical implementations of the monetary waqf investment, building a network of communication, consolidating the cooperation between the investment waqf foundations on international levels. He said: It would be possible to make a comprehensive study about the establishment of a world waqf financial foundation, which would contribute to enhancing the investment projects in different countries in the world, within the Islamic Waqf vision.